Chapter 6 - Shattered Glass and Silver Cords
The heavy mahogany dining table splintered under the impact as Lucas slammed Julian into the polished wood, his massive hands locking around the older man’s throat before the pistol could be drawn.
Julian choked, his fingers clawing desperately at Lucas’s wrists, his face turning a dark, bruised purple. But even as he suffocated, Julian’s slate-colored eyes flashed with malicious triumph.
“You... you can’t kill me,” Julian wheezed, saliva flying from his lips. “The syndicate council... they’re loyal to me. Half the guards on this estate answer to my payroll, not yours. If I don't check in by midnight, the North Manor house burns to the ground.”
Lucas froze.
His grip on Julian’s throat loosened by a fraction of an inch, but his eyes narrowed into slits of pure, unadulterated terror.
“What did you say?” Lucas growled.
Julian let out a wet, raspy laugh, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth where he had bitten his lip during the tackle.
“You think I didn't prepare for this?” Julian sneered, struggling for air. “While you were playing nursemaid to a sick little girl in the North Manor, my men have already surrounded the perimeter. The moment I press this transmitter in my pocket, the whole cottage goes up in flames. Just like your wife’s car.”
Lucas’s blood ran cold.
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He didn't hesitate. With a brutal, single-handed twist, Lucas drove his fist into Julian’s jaw, knocking the older man unconscious with a sickening crack. Julian crumpled onto the shattered plates and spilled wine, motionless.
Lucas didn't look back. He tore out of the dining room, sprinting through the darkened corridors of the mansion toward the front doors.
